


Promise You'll Come Back

by lyssajanet



Series: OC Romance Week [4]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/M, Forehead Touch, Forehead Touching, Mention of alcohol, Mutual Pining, OC Romance Week, i suppose???, mention of typical canon violence, oh theres a little of all the classic tropes but its for a prompt SO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 14:44:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19378831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyssajanet/pseuds/lyssajanet
Summary: A heart to heart and almost confession between Dragonborn Velanna and her fake husband/very real crush, right before she leaves to face Alduin for the final time.





	Promise You'll Come Back

**Author's Note:**

> how these idiots don't realize they're both in love with each other drives me up the wall, AND I WROTE THEM.

The halls of the museum always gave Velanna a sense of comfort. From the very first day she entered, after stowing away on that ship for over a month and trying to evade any and all Thalmor, the museum was always somewhere so could go to feel safe. From the winding halls and secret passages, to the security of the safehouse, to the half dozen guards who always stood vigilant and addressed her as “ma’am”, there was no safer place for Velanna in all of Skyrim. But what really allowed her to let her guard down, to truly feel like she was at home, was the curator.

Team Dovahkiin, as others had taken to calling them (much to Miraak’s displeasure), planned to make for Whiterun in the early hours of the morning. After that, there would be no turning back. Dragonborn Velanna would be summoning the dragon Odahviing to gain information as to where Alduin was hiding, and from there, would challenge him to a one final battle to end the Dragon Crisis. The end of the line.

The explorer’s guild had only returned from their world saving expedition just a few weeks before, and had to be politely told by the chief librarian that throwing a celebratory party for Velanna the night before she left would just make her more tired when she had to leave. She hadn’t even told Auryen she didn’t want a party; he must have just known. Velanna knew she didn’t deserve him. She knew he shouldn’t have to be stuck with pretending to be the doting husband that everyone had to think he was in order to keep her from being sent back to Alinor and tried for dissenting. If there was to be one benefit to her being consumed by the World Eater, it was that Auryen would finally be allowed to go back to whatever his normal life should have been before he accidentally told the Thalmor they were married.

The “no party” order seemed to only be enough to hold back the explorer’s guild. Kashia, Gael, and Miraak took to getting just drunk enough that they would still awake at dawn with only minimal prodding, while Serana had hung back to keep an eye on everyone and wait until night properly fell to quench her own needs. Velanna had tried sleeping, but soon her inner _dov_ felt trapped and claustrophobic within the stone walls. She needed to fly, but lacked the wings. Walking the grounds would help.

For the most part, the Thalmor had taken to leaving Velanna and Auryen alone after they realized that imprisoning the one person capable of ending the Dragon Crisis might not be good for the Aldmeri Dominion. If they weren’t stopped, eventually the dragons would make their way out of Skyrim, and then things would be a problem for them too. That didn’t mean they weren’t still watching the Altmer couple, gathering evidence to prove their marriage was a farce for when the time was right. Velanna hoped it was late enough that no one else would be awake, or that they would also be partying to celebrate the Dragonborn leaving in the morning. She knew they would have to leave early to avoid the well-wishers. As well as avoid traveling the main roads, as it would be rather embarrassing to “You’re going to catch your death out here.”

Coming up the stairs was Auryen, dressed for sleeping but without any drowsiness in his voice. Velanna’s heart started to slow back down after realizing it was just him, then sped up again when she remembered it was _him_.

“I’m so sorry Auryen, were the others keeping you up?” Velanna knew he had a habit of staying up too late cataloguing, but typically did most of his work when the others weren’t there. Said he worked better when he knew there was no one to worry about him, as if that ever stopped Velanna.

He came up beside her where she was leaning against the half-wall overlooking the garden of the museum. Up above them, the two moons glowed bright, reflected in the fountain below. “Actually I came to check in on you – all of you. See if there was anything else you needed before you left in the morning.” Velanna saw out the corner of her eye that he was looking right at her, but she knew she couldn’t hold that contact with him without stuttering.

She laughed hollowly. “Unless you have a defeated Alduin hiding in your storeroom, I don’t think there’s anything else you can do. We have our bags packed and everything else ready to go. The others are just having one last good night before…” she trailed off, not wanting to say that they could all die.

Auryen must have understood, as he didn’t push the issue any further. The two of them simply existed in each other’s presence for a few moments. Solitude may be where she felt most at home, but with Auryen, it felt deeper. Like her soul was finally at home as well. Alinor hadn’t felt like that since she was a child. Amazing how so much can change in a year.

After some time, Velanna spoke again. “If I don’t come back –”

“You will,” he interrupted. “I know you will come back.” There was such a confidence in the words he spoke, as if he knew the future of Velanna’s fate.

But the Dragonborn of legend existed outside the constraints of fate. Whatever happened in the next few days was one of the few events in history not predetermined by some elder scroll, daedric prince, or something else. There was a freedom in being free from fate, but sometimes it felt like being lost in the open ocean – no idea which way is north or where land even was, only that there were the resources to thrive all around, but just as many that wanted to consume you whole as well. It was lonely at times. But bemoaning things outside one’s control only left them sitting in a hole of self-pity.

Even if Auryen didn’t know about Heroes and fate, just hearing him sound so sure that she would survive all this made her feel just slightly better. “Thank you, Auryen.”

His smile was so soft and kind that Velanna almost felt mad it was just him being kind to a friend and nothing more. “You should still get some rest. And staying out here in the cold cannot be good. Come.” He placed a hand on her mid-back and guided them back inside. In the darkness of the night, he couldn’t see the sadness in her eyes as she thought again about how she didn’t deserve someone as wonderful as Auryen.

 

Velanna ended up being right about how easily everyone would wake up. Serana complained about just about everything except waking up, so she was manageable. Kashia rarely slept well, but the sujamma they had taken back with them from Solstheim had just enough kick to it that she could sleep like she used to, and only required minor prodding. Gael either grumbled and turned away, but was always ready to leave when it was time to go, or he looked like he had been up for hours. And the only person who could wake up Miraak without getting shouted into a wall was Velanna.

Most of their stuff was already packed from the evening before, including potions, weapons, food, and enough empty space for whatever they would end up looting. They knew better than to think their hands wouldn’t end up in every urn, chest, and pocket of vanquished foes, and so it was easier to plan ahead and use healing spells in place of healing potions when possible. All that was left was to drop off some books at Auryen’s desk and then they could all be off.

Making sure to be loud enough that the museum guards would know it was just Velanna, she entered the library through the safe house entrance and placed the stack where she knew Auryen would find them, then tried to close the library door as quietly as possible. She wasn’t quite she where Auryen had decided to pass out for the night and didn’t think he should be rudely awoken by Team Dovahkiin’s desire to leave before dawn.

She took one last moment to appreciate the museum and all the hard work she had done to fill it with relics. Each one had a memory connected to its acquisition and told the story of Velanna’s last year in Skryim – her journey as the Last Dragonborn. If everyone when as badly as she expected, this would be the last time she could appreciate it.

The moment was broken when she heard a crashing sound from the dining area and then rapid footsteps a moment later, startling Velanna. She pulled forth flames in her hand and readied a conjuration spell in the other on instinct, but instead of a security guard or worse, a burglar here to steal, none other than Auryen came stumbling around the corner – still in his sleep clothes but looking notably more disheveled. “Velanna,” he said between quick breaths as he leaned forward against the stone doorway of the dining hall.

Velanna sighed in relief and let the spells fade. “Auryen,” she said placing her hand over her racing heart, “You startled me.”

“I – apologize. I thought you all had already left, before I…” He stopped to take a few more breaths, still leaning forward and down.

“Before what?” she asked, confused. There couldn’t have been anything else they had forgotten, and the two of them had said they goodbyes the night before. What else could there be?

Auryen took a few more seconds to catch his breath, then looked up, inhaled and sighed in a way that looked like he was bracing himself, and walked toward Velanna. Velanna forgot to take a step back once he got closer than she expected, and completely froze when he gently placed his hands on the sides of her face and locked his eyes softly on hers. After a moment of just that while Velanna’s heart raced in confusion and nerves, he tilted his head forward and touched his forehead to hers, eyes closed.

“Promise me you’ll come back,” he pleaded softly. Velanna desperately tried to control her oncoming hyperventilation with Auryen’s face so close to hers. She felt one of his thumbs slowly swipe across her cheek and then back again. “I – _we_ need you here.”

As stubborn as Velanna was when it came to her preconceived beliefs, she couldn’t convince herself that Auryen didn’t at least care for her as a friend. Really, he was her first friend in this new land, did more to keep her safe, housed, and well-funded than anyone else had. Not to say others had failed her either. The Thieves Guild gave her a sense of family and let her make real change for the better for all of Skyrim’s poor. The College of Winterhold made her a stronger, more powerful mage – so much more than she had learned in her decades studying in Alinor or reading misplaced spellbooks during expeditions. She couldn’t abandon everybody just because she finished fulfilling the prophecy. She couldn’t leave them. Not the explorer’s guild, the guilds she lead and the jarls she served. Not her adopted children or her friends and followers. Not the museum, and certainly not Auryen. Gods, not Auryen. She felt a weight of guilt land in her stomach at just the idea that she once considered dying in the jaws of the World Eater to be anything other than her worst nightmare, but then it settled into something else. Determination. Hope.

She had to survive.

Velanna’s eyes fluttered shut. “I promise.” She let out a deep sigh, breathing hot air onto Auryen’s chin, but not seeing it. “I’ll come home.”

Before she could kick herself for calling the museum home, Auryen leaned back slightly and one of his hands slipped down to hold her own and squeezed while he smiled at her. Then he let go and pulled her into a full body embrace. “Thank you,” Velanna heard through the wall of hair that covered her pointed ear.

They held each other just on the right side of too tight, like this really could be their final goodbye. But Velanna knew – she just knew that she would come out of this alive. If not for herself, than for others. She had to. Though she wasn’t one to turn down getting to hold Auryen like that for a moment and pretend things were different.

But even the best of things must come to an end, especially when the World Eater waited. They slowly pulled apart, not quite looking at each other anymore. The moment was awkward again.

“Well,” Auryen said, brushing nonexistent dirt off his shirt. “Good luck, my friend. And safe travels. Then he went through the door to the library and closed it before Velanna could say anything in response.

“You two have got to be fucking kidding me,” Velanna heard Kashia’s voice say from the front door to the museum.

Velanna jumped and gasped, throwing her hand to her heart, not having noticed Kashia there at all or when she arrived. “By the nine, Kashia!” Kashia leaned against the doorway in her full traveling gear with her signature Too Tired For This Shit look. “How – how long have you been there?”

Kashia pushed off and stood straight. “Long enough to see what everyone else already knows, but that’s not the point. You were taking too long to get out and the sun’s already risen, so we gotta go. We can talk about you and Auryen being idiots later once we’re on the road. Come on.”

An involuntary pout came across Velanna’s face, having had more than enough of these conversations in the past, but Kashia was still right that they needed to leave now. Velanna looked back one last time at the museum she and Auryen built together, and walked out through the door and unto the breach.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr @ partyatsanguines, join me in velauryen hell


End file.
